Woman Drowns Rabid Raccoon that Attacked Her

A young woman from Hope, Maine, told the Bangor Daily News a rather wild story. According to her, while she was jogging as usually on a familiar path near her home during a recent afternoon, something completely unexpected happened. As she was enjoying the nice weather outside, she noticed a raccoon blocking her path. The animal was bearing his teeth out and Rachel Borch immediately knew that it must have been rabid. During a Wednesday interview, the 21-year old remembered how the animal suddenly jumped at her. She ripped out her headphones and dropped her phone to the ground.

A very dangerous raccoon

According to her, a second after, the raccoon was already at her feet. She remembers that she tried to avoid it as much as she could, getting away from it. Unfortunately, she couldn’t escape. Borch even compared the beast with a Tasmanian devil which are usually very aggressive too. After she realized she couldn’t get past the animal because the path was narrow, the girl began to mentally prepare. She knew that it was going to bite her and it was already lunging at her.

Borch decided to defend herself with her arms. The raccoon immediately bit her by the thumb and wouldn’t let go. As the girl was screaming, the raccoon was scratching her legs and arms with its claws. Seconds after, she noticed that she had dropped her phone in a puddle which was rather deep. An idea came to her mind. She couldn’t strangle the animal, but she could hold it underwater long enough for it to let go. So, while the animal still had her thumb in its mouth, she dragged it into the puddle. Borch held it there with its head underwater for as long as she could.

Fighting the animal off with her bare hands

After what she described “an eternity later”, the raccoon finally let go of her thumb. Then she ran home as quick as she could and told her mother that a rabid raccoon had bitten her. They drove to the Pen Bay Medical Center. Her father retrieved the raccoon’s body from the puddle. Hope Animal Control Officer Heidi Blood said that the raccoon was indeed rabid. Unfortunately, there might be more in the area so people need to be careful.